Sat, 10 Nov 2018 04:28:13 -0800WeeblyMon, 29 Oct 2018 17:54:02 GMThttp://www.curioussoulphilosophy.com/news/deadline-approaching-for-the-history-of-sexuality-workshopDear Curious Souls, I'm excited for our upcoming workshop on Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1 in November, 2018. The text analyzes the complicated workings of sex and power, and famously argues that sexual identities are not natural categories, but social constructions. It has become a classic in feminist theory, gender studies, and queer theory, and it is an essential text for understanding the workings of power in modern societies. I'm excited for what we might do with Foucualt's theory of power to help us understand current discussions surrounding the #MeToo movement, the Kavanaugh hearings, and movements to opt out of gender and sexuality binaries altogether. The deadline to register is Saturday, October 3. Time to order your book and save yourself a spot! Register with a friend for a significant discount.

Come with us to:

Examine negative and positive mechanisms of power

Learn how power operates to form identities

Experiment with avenues of resistance and opportunities for creativity

Over the past 25 years, I have been asked with some frequency by students, parents, colleagues from other disciplines, friends, and strangers at parties what I think the value of philosophy is, why I devote myself to it, and why it matters.

I've been asked to defend it against charges that it amounts to narcissistic navel-gazing, and is a waste of time. I've been told that it is just competitive sparring about nothing, fueled by ego-trips and attempts to overpower others. I’ve heard that it is too abstract, too exclusive, too disconnected from real world problems, and overly intellectual BS.

When I hear these charges, I usually have to say: “Yeah, I’ve met that guy too.” Philosophy can turn into any one of those things, and I also get frustrated when I see self-proclaimed philosophers behaving in these ways. But at its best – actually, with even a moderate amount of experience with it – philosophy can become an indispensable process for finding direction on the uncharted waters of our lives. It can help us to navigate the struggles, confusions, and suffering we inevitably face as we grapple with the human condition.

Philosophy’s Practical Relevance

First of all, philosophy is far more than some abstract, intellectual exercise. In fact, it is about far more than just thinking. Our ways of thinking affect our ways of feeling, choosing, doing, creating, relating, and being in the world. Philosophy has the power to examine and transform all of these things.

Consider, for instance, how your feelings change when you understand the world to be a place of abundance versus a place of scarcity. Consider how these different perspectives might affect your desires, your core pursuits, your actions, and your relationships with others. Or, consider the changes that happen in you when you shift from seeing, say, an employee as a tool that will help you fulfill your projects, to seeing them as another subject with their own projects, struggles, family life, and wisdom beyond what the job asks. How do your attitudes and actions change when this shift occurs?

Different ways of thinking can set off profound chain reactions that rock our world. It seems pretty important that we examine our perspectives, worldviews, first premises, or claims to truth with care, and see what support they have on their side.

So, I see philosophy’s relevance for our practical lives to be quite broad. We can think of philosophy itself as a way of life or an art of living. Socrates called it “the examined life.” Thoreau called it “living deliberately.” Existentialists use the language of “authenticity.” Communities around the world refer to their philosophical experiments as “intentional living.” All these phrases indicate that the philosophical life is one that is reflective, critical, creative, and empowered.

So, what can the process of philosophy do for us?

10 Benefits of Philosophy

1. Philosophy teaches us to ask good questions and examine popular opinions, core beliefs, and values. It helps us to consider alternative points of view, expand the horizons of our understanding, and think critically about what’s true.

2. Philosophy trains us to think with clarity, consistency, subtlety, and depth. It teaches us to recognize fallacious thinking, assertions without support, and contradictions. It trains us to be skeptical of claims without reasons and evidence, and it encourages us to withhold judgment until we have the reasons and evidence necessary to make a well-grounded judgment.

3. Philosophy leads us to examine what is really good for us. It encourages us to align our desires, pursuits, and creations with what we understand to be good, and to let go of our attachments to ideas, identities, habits, and things that are unhealthy and do not serve our well-being.

4. Philosophy helps us to learn to communicate effectively with others, to listen and learn from others, to ask and answer questions, to give support for our assertions, to problem solve together, to find common ground, and to respect difference.

5. Philosophy leads us to choose deliberately, rather than haphazardly, and line up our actions with our core truths and values. Philosophy teaches us to notice when we are at cross-purposes with ourselves, and encourages us to walk our talk.

7. Philosophy teaches us how to handle open-ended inquiries and experiments, adapt, and navigate uncertainty. Philosophy leads us to explore new ideas and experiment with new practices when our old ones no longer seem coherent or cause us problems. Philosophy helps us to search for meaning when we face the void.

8. Philosophy leads us to examine social structures and power relations, and it teaches us how to pursue justice. Philosophy also helps us to consider our human relationship to non-human beings, and figure out how to improve it.

9. Philosophy empowers us to direct our own lives, and to take responsibility for ourselves and our world. It encourages us to create a way of existing that we can call our own.

10. Philosophy activates the powers that human beings already have within them – for inquiry, rational thought, imagination, desire, empathy, self-determination, and creativity – and puts them to work to improve understanding, ease suffering, create justice, and develop freedom.

Philosophy is educative, therapeutic, and empowering.

Perhaps I will be criticized for making philosophy sound like a series of self-help books, rather than the mother of the sciences. Certainly not all self-help strategies are philosophic. But nothing has allowed me to help myself and others more than the tools developed through a long engagement with philosophy.

I'm excited to welcome back Danielle LaSusa to lead us in another Buddhism workshop in September, 2018. Danielle is a philosophy professor, a philosophical coach, and co-creator of the philosophical podcast Think Hard.

In May, we immersed ourselves in the central principles of Buddhist wisdom with Danielle. For three fantastic weeks, we grappled with the notion that all the entities of the world (including ourselves) are ever-changing and interconnected. We investigated the causes of human suffering. We worked to find ways to overcome ego-attachment and accept all the different aspects of life. We experimented with meditation, and quieted the "monkey mind." This time around, we will focus on the way Buddhist wisdom relates to our interpersonal relationships, and our dealings with the social-political context in which we live.

We are excited to introduce a new format to our workshops at Curious Soul. We have always emphasized the practical value of philosophy, but this time we will be extending our sessions to add a component called "the Lab." The Lab will allow us to set aside time to (a) reflect individually on how Buddhism can aid us in our personal struggles, (b) devise experiments for the week, and (c) discuss our experiences in a supportive environment.

We welcome newcomers as well as returning students to this workshop. September will come around fast. Register early to save yourself a spot!

Danielle will be offering an exciting opportunity for us to introduce Eastern wisdom into our practice of philosophy as a way of life at Curious Soul. Our journey into Buddhism will help us to consider the complex nature of human suffering, the interconnectendess of all beings, and paths for achieving inner peace.

We are wrapping up a great season of existentialism workshops and moving on to a topic both timely and closely connected to our recent studies: the existentialist feminism of Simone de Beauvoir.

Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex famously declared that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," and showed in painstaking detail how women are trained from early childhood to accept and perform their role as the inferior "other" in society.

By reading sections of The Second Sex in light of the current #metoo movement, we'll consider the ongoing challenges of liberation, and creatively experiment with practices in which we might assert and claim subject-hood for women.

I’m excitedly preparing for our third existentialism workshop on Martin Heidegger, which begins January 13th, 2018.

Heidegger is one of the most original and important thinkers of the 20th Century. He is also one of the most difficult philosophers to read, as he creates his own vocabulary to articulate his new view of the human condition.

Heidegger does something quite radical in the history of philosophy. He critiques the tradition of Western metaphysics, and overcomes the dualistic (mind-body, subject-object) view of reality which is so central to the way we, in the West, understand ourselves as minds and the world as an aggregate of intrinsically meaningless objects, existing independent of us. Heidegger encourages us to see this dominant view as rather one-sided, concealing the way in which we are originally connected to the things and people of the world in our everyday, practical activities. He uses a description of these practical activities, as they are situated in social-cultural contexts, as a point of departure for revealing how it is that meaning arises in the world, how our own freedom is at work in the projects we select, and how it is that we shape who we are through our own actions. He, furthermore, illuminates how we can take ownership of the lives we are creating for ourselves, and exist with authenticity.

Come with us to:

Discover our original connection with the world

Consider how meaning emerges in our lives

Grab hold of your own freedom and learn how to live authentically

Saturdays, January 13, 20, 27, 2018, 1:00-3:00 p.m.World Cup Coffee, 1740 NW Glisan, Portland, ORLearn more and register for our third existentialism workshop on Heidegger.]]>Sat, 28 Oct 2017 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.curioussoulphilosophy.com/news/existentialism-workshops-round-twoDear Curious Souls,We're gearing up for our second Existentialism workshop, where we'll dive deeper into the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche. We'll be reading from his Genealogy of Morals, and investigating where different moral values come from and what kinds of life they support.

In his Genealogy, the great unmasker interprets what he calls "noble" and "slave" moralities, tracing back the physiological and psychological energies that motivate them. The text gets us to ask ourselves, perhaps for the first time: What is the value of my values? Are they encouraging me to become stronger and overcome my weaknesses? Do they pave a path of creativity? Do they help me to love life? Or might they be an expression of my fatigue? Do I use them as a kind of crutch to compensate for my weaknesses? Are they a sign of my jealousy or resentment? We will also follow Nietzsche in unpacking the origin of responsibility, the experience of guilt, and the function of punishment. Get ready for a radical new perspective!

I hope to see you at our next workshop!

Come with us to:

Examine the value of your values

Rethink the purpose and effects of guilt

Unmask the meaning of different moral ideals

Three Saturday afternoons, November 4, 11, 18, 20172:30-4:30 p.m. at World Cup Coffee, 1740 NW Glisan, Portland, ORLearn more and register for our second existentialism workshop on Nietzsche.]]>Mon, 02 Oct 2017 16:21:59 GMThttp://www.curioussoulphilosophy.com/news/upcoming-existentialism-workshopsDear Curious Souls,I'm excited to announce our next round of workshops on Existentialism! We will continue our theme of studying thinkers that see philosophy as a way of life, and finding ways to apply their insights to our daily practices.

In our introductory workshop on existentialism we will consider our freedom and responsibility to create meaning and purpose in life. We will also consider the open ended nature of personal identity, and the way we "become who we are" through our actions.

After developing the major themes of existentialism, we will turn to Friedrich Nietzsche, godfather of the existential tradition, radical philosopher, and genius psychologist. We will grapple with his announcement of the death of God and his warning about the threat of nihilism. We will also consider how we can become great artists and affirmers of life. Finally, we will work through Nietzsche's notion that all knowledge is perspectival, and that "there are no facts, only interpretations." This is of special contemporary relevance, as we've started to hear in the news that we are living in a post-truth, post-fact world. Is Nietzsche's critique of pure, non-interpretive objectivity behind it? Is there still room for some form of objectivity in Nietzsche's perspectivism ? What might that look like? Let's try to figure it out.

I hope to see you at the next workshop!

Join us to:

Try on for size living without absolutes (e.g., absolute meaning, absolute purpose, absolute truth, absolute good and bad).

Begin to uncover the perspective behind your own beliefs (i.e., where did these beliefs come from, and what do they serve?).

Consider the meaning and purpose you might make for yourself

Experiment with affirming all of life

Saturdays: Oct. 14, 21, 28 (2:30-4:30) at Palio Espresso and Dessert House in SE Portland. Learn more and register for our existentialism workshops.

]]>Mon, 14 Aug 2017 02:47:35 GMThttp://www.curioussoulphilosophy.com/news/next-workshop-on-the-stoics-and-overcoming-anxietyDear Curious Souls,We're gearing up for our final workshop in our How to Live Philosophically series. We've traced the spirit of philosophy back to Socrates and his unrelenting examination of popular values, his enthusiastic effort to discuss what the good life really is, and his attempt to overcome mere opinion and seek truth. We then followed the thread of what the philosophical life means in Plato's ultimate dialogue on love -- the Symposium -- where we discovered how the examined life has everything to do with learning how to love genuinely, learning which objects are most worthy of our desire, and how to approach them in the ways that will bring about happiness.

Now we turn to the Stoics, who pick up on a particular line of Socratic thinking and develop it into a holistic life-practice. The Socratic inspiration behind Stoic philosophy is that the only thing that can really harm you is yourself -- that is, your own bad deeds. We should focus not on what others do to us, nor the accidents that befall us, but on our own actions, reactions, and character.

In our workshop on the Stoics we will read the Enchiridion (or "manual") by Epictetus, which works through questions of what is in our control, what we should care most about, and what we should learn to let go of. The goal for the Stoics is to overcome the anxiety produced by many of our strongest passions (fear, anger, attachment, loss, grief) and to bring about a healthy tranquility in the soul. We will also read selections from a book by William Irvine, a contemporary scholar of the Stoics, who focuses on the kinds of everyday exercises we should practice to bring about tranquility. The book is called "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy" and it is a very friendly read for a broad audience.

Demystifying Demons: Rethinking Who And What We AreBy Clayton Morgareidge

Review by Monica Vilhauer

Demystifying Demons, by Clayton Morgareidge, introduces itself as a book for troubled souls. (I’m in!) With a philosophical and psychoanalytic orientation, but without the usual impenetrable language of texts in those disciplines (sigh of relief), it approaches the study of the soul in a refreshingly accessible and personal manner, drawing on struggles recognizable to us from movies, novels, song-lyrics, and even the author’s own life. As the author proclaims: “This is one troubled soul talking to another” and, from my experience, reading it was much like a conversation with a wise and compassionate friend.

The author takes a secular approach to the topic of the soul and its demons. The soul is less of a religious or metaphysical concept for him, and more of a name that describes our inner life, or our “interior weather,” which is always in flux but not in total chaos. There are repeating patterns that most of us will recognize. Likewise, the mysterious “demons” we struggle with are not little children of Satan, but rather the storms and droughts of our interior weather, which keep returning in our lives, disturbing us, and challenging us.

By outlining the territory of the soul and its interior weather patterns, and by articulating the ways in which these patterns develop, the book offers insight into the origins of our most common types of soul-suffering, including guilt, anxiety, self-loathing, feeling like one is an imposter, and rage. The goal of the book is to shine a light on these dark, mysterious “demons” that torment us, in an attempt to make them a little less frightening, less tyrannical, and less debilitating (much like, as the author says, the effect of a nightlight on the monster under the bed). Illumination and clarification, then, are expected to have a therapeutic function in this work.

The book shines a helpful light on the following mysterious aspects of the life of the soul:

The unconscious sphere, and the disturbing feelings and judgments that seem to rule in us as if they had a mind of their own.

The social nature of the soul, and the roots of our “interior weather” in the ways significant others approach us, react to us, offer and deny us recognition, and expect things of us.

The internalized voice of judgment (a.k.a. the voice of “the big Other”), which commands us from the perspective of real or imagined societal rules, and is particularly good at bullying us and producing feelings of fear, shame, humiliation, self-loathing, and resentment.

The power of our pre-verbal experiences with our mother figures in forming our fundamental (healthy, problematic, or confused) orientations in the world.

The inadequacies of our usual forms of “objective” language for expressing the depths of our ambiguous (physical-emotional-mental) experience, but also the special potential of the languages of art (especially poetry, music, and dance) for communicating and connecting with others beyond the boundaries of objective language.

The universal nature of soul-struggles, and the way all of our lives are rooted in a variety of functional and dysfunctional relationships, with deep layers of experience unknown to ourselves and not fully under our own control.

With this final insight, the book inspires compassion for others and for ourselves, as we wrestle with the basic facts of our human condition. It also opens up new questions about what we can do for our healing. In the book, we discovered both the potential and the limitations of clarifying thought and talk-therapy for our healing. At a certain point, should we shift gears from books and counselors to art?! And finally, if compassion is an important element in our healing, what might a compassionate society look like? The author mentions the problems that a competitive capitalist society poses for the cultivation of compassion, love, solidarity, trust, cooperation, and mercy. Further, there is the voice of “the big Other,” which seems inevitable as long as we live in any kind of society, and which has a tendency to shout louder than compassion. How can we overcome the immense pressure of these two forces? Perhaps part of the answer (toward which I sense the author gestures), is to realize that they (these forces, these institutions, these norms) are our creations, and we as a culture can reform them.

RecommendationThe book is ideal as a companion to therapy. It is also a lovely invitation into philosophy and psychoanalysis for those who would like to understand their relevance for everyday life. It would work well in an introductory general studies course. For me, one of the most wonderful aspects of the book is the way it picks up on a very old tradition of philosophy, often forgotten in the modern version of the discipline, which aims to diminish suffering by way of clarifying the understanding, and by shifting our basic approach to the world, ourselves, and others for the better. I place the book in the tradition of philosophy as therapy, and not the self-help tradition, for several reasons. As the author admits (with a bit of a laugh, I imagine), it is “not relentlessly upbeat,” nor does it offer a quick-fix for our soul-struggles. It also does not try to conceal the “awesome complexity” of the soul, the ultimately tragic elements of human life, or the fact that we can never become fully transparent to ourselves. Yet, it is optimistic that we can make some progress in our understanding, we can ease some suffering, and it’s worth the effort to do both.